There were comments early in Day 1 that Teen Titans wouldn’t win this $10K. With Commander Leander and Ryan Jones both skipping the event for personal reasons, there were people who said that Titan’s had no chance.

Those people might soon be eating crow. Adam sat down for the finals piloting the only Teen Titans deck to make the Top 8. Across the table from him was Tim Batow, playing the only My Beloved deck I’ve seen all weekend.

Number of Curve Sentinel decks in the Top 8 – four.
Number of Curve Sentinel decks in the Finals – zero.

Number of Las Vegas natives in the Top 8 – three.
Number of Las Vegas natives in the Finals – zero.

Sometimes, more isn’t better.

Adam won the die roll and took the odd initiatives. Turn 1 saw Tim without a 1-drop, while Adam played Pantha. Pantha swung at Tim to deal the first damage of the match, taking him to 47.

On turn 2, Adam flipped up Optitron and used it to find Terra, tossing Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal out of his hand. Tim didn’t have a 2-drop, and Pantha swung in unhindered once again.

On turn 3, Adam dropped Beast Boy—an unusual pick for Titans these days—while Tim dropped Huntress. Beast Boy swung at Huntress and picked up a counter to cause the double stun. Pantha swung at Tim’s head for the third consecutive turn.

On turn 4, the players realized that things might be backwards. “I thought I took the even initiatives,” Adam said. It was decided that he had taken evens, but that he had played first on turn 3. Tim was awarded the initiative, played a resource, and put Cassandra Cain ◊ Batgirl onto the table.

Adam used his team to stun both Cassandra Cain and Huntress, and then played a Finishing Move on Cain, setting back Tim’s development heading into the crucial fifth turn of the game.

Turn 5 saw Adam with the guy he wanted, dropping Garth ◊ Tempest onto a table that was nearly devoid of characters on Tim’s side. Tim recruited Bane, Ubu in his recruit step, and Adam responded to Bane being placed on the chain.

“Terra, Huntress,” he said. Tim exhausted Huntress in response to use the Bat-Signal he had in his resource row, and he went to get Lady Shiva, Sandra Woosan. With Bane still on the chain, Adam got a Finishing Move back with Garth to use on Huntress. Because all of this was done with Bane still on the chain, Tim was unable to flip over his important team up card.

“While you’re still in build, I want to Argus,” Adam announced. Tim could only shrug his shoulders as Adam played his third copy of USS Argus, the first two having been sent to the discard pile with Terra.

The table was being dominated by the Titans at this point, with Pantha, Terra, Beast Boy, and Garth all out there for Adam. Tim was staring at a board that featured only Bane.

Turn 6 saw Tim add Ra’s al Ghul, Master Swordsman to this team, but it seemed to come far too late. Adam played Roy Harper and followed it up with a boosted Dawn Granger ◊ Dove. Tim saw enough and picked up his cards start game 2.

Adam Prosak 1, Tim Batow 0

Game 2

Tim elected to take the odd initiatives and wished Adam good luck.

Adam ripped his first four cards off the pile and was thrilled to see Pantha and Hank Hall. “I’ll keep,” he blurted out, even before Tim had made his decision. 

Tim had Alfred Pennyworth on turn 1, while Adam played Pantha. Pantha happily swung at the tapped Alfred, and Adam took an early lead again.

Turn 2 saw Adam flip Optitron to get Roy Harper ◊ Speedy, which he used to KO Alfred. Tim was discouraged, but he played the second copy of Alfred that was sitting in his hand. He sent him away a turn later and used his ability to get Flame Trap.

Flame Trap tends to hurt Titans.

Tim’s second turn 3 recruit was Spoiler ◊ Robin, who he hid behind another copy of Alfred. Alfred died again to Speedy, and Adam sent Hank Hall to the discard pile with Optitron to get Garth.

“My build, right?” Adam asked head judge Matt Tabak. After determining that it was an even-numbered turn, Adam was told to build. Adam played Terra and used her immediately to stun Spoiler. He then used Pantha to KO Spoiler with Finishing Move.

Tim suddenly had no characters on the table, and he was only able to find Jason Todd ◊ Robin, for his turn 4 play. Neither player made any attacks, Adam because his guys were exhausted, and Tim because he didn’t want to run Jason Todd into Terra.

Tim added his first decent character to the table to start off turn 5, playing Bane, Ubu. Adam had the 5-drop he wanted, having used Optitron earlier in the game to get Garth ◊ Tempest.

“Let’s have Bane hit Terra,” Tim announced. Terra stunned Jason Todd ◊ Robin in response to the attack.

Adam tried to avoid the attack with a Heroic Sacrifice, but after flipping two copies of My Beloved, Tim was able to find a Fizzle and he tossed it aside to stop the Sacrifice from happening.

“How many cards do you have?” Tim asked. He was agonizing over what to do with the attack. He finally allowed it go through, but not before using Garth to get back a Finishing Move and making sure that Jason Todd was out for the count.

Bane, Ubu survived the attack and KO’d Terra at the start of the recovery phase, but it appeared that Adam still had control of the board. He asserted that control when he played Roy Harper and a boosted Hawk.

Tim felt that Adam had overextended, and he finally decided to play his Flame Trap. In response, Adam exhausted Pantha and the lovers to give a bonus to Roy Harper. Roy stunned Bane, but all three of the smaller Titans went down.

Tim finally recruited a character, placing Ra’s al Ghul, Master Swordsman on the table. Bane was already stunned, so it would be Ra’s all alone against Roy Harper and Garth. Ra’s attacked Garth, and Adam took 8 points of damage.

The game totals stood at 31 to 22 in Tim’s favor, and it appeared that the board was in his favor, as well, for the first time in the match.

Turn 7 was all about Tim’s initiative, and he had the 7-drop he needed to take advantage of things—Lady Shiva, Master Assassin. She meant that whoever was the most important drop for Adam would be dead fairly quickly.

Adam stared hard at the table for his build step, trying to decide what to do with the Terra and Dove in his hand. He couldn’t play Dove boosted because he had no more copies of Hank. There were two copies in his discard pile and one in his resource row from a Terra activation. Adam didn’t seem sure of this, though, and he used Optitron to search his deck for a character.

He finally settled on Red Star and used his entire team to pump Roy Harper enough to stun Bane.

It appeared to be too little too late. Ra’s attacked Garth, and Adam got back a Heroic Sacrifice in response to the attack. Adam played the Sacrifice, trying to get Ra’s out of the attack. Tim responded by using Lady Shiva to eliminate Garth, and the Heroic Sacrifice was negated. With Garth no longer there, the attack was no longer legal.

Ra’s readied and swung into Red Star, dealing 11 points of damage to Adam. The endurance totals stood at 26 to 7 in Tim’s favor.

Adam slammed his hand on the top of his deck, asking it to give him something good. It didn’t work and he scooped up his cards, ready for game three.

Tim Batow1, Adam Prosak 1

Game 3

Adam took even initiative. The matchup had proven that it could go either way, and the fate of the players had come down to a rarely-seen Final third game.

“That’s the worst draw ever,” Adam announced. He had drawn Press the Attack and three copies of Garth in his opening four. “There’s no way I win if I keep that,” he said.

On turn 1, he flipped Optitron and tossed Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal to get Garth from the bottom of his deck.

Turn 2 saw Adam play his first character, putting Tim Drake ◊ Robin onto the table. Tim matched the play with Spoiler Robin.

On turn 3, Tim played Jason Todd ◊ Robin, putting three different versions of Robin on the table.

“He should have to KO his—mine was here first,” Adam said. “You know, Legend Rule?”

Jason Todd swung at Tim Drake as Spoiler watched. You could almost hear the “WHAP’s” and “BAM’s” as Robin punched . . . Robin.

Adam had the initiative on turn 4, and he used it to recruit Terra. Tim either didn’t have a 4-drop or decided not to play it, as he placed Huntress and Alfred Pennyworth on the table. He put Huntress and Todd up front, with Spoiler and Alfred in the back. Alfred was looking kind of tired, so Jason had no chance for reinforcement.

Adam had his team attack Jason Todd, and Jason stunned Tim Drake in exchange. Adam passed the attack over to Tim, who sent Huntress into Terra. Huntress needed a little help to take Terra down, and she got it in the form of Savage Beatdown. The endurance totals were 42 to 35 in Tim’s favor.

The players went to turn 5 with Adam only controlling Terra and Tim controlling a board that would keep her from being effective. The Utility Belt on Spoiler did a fine job of making Terra’s ability irrelevant.

Tim recruited first for turn 5, adding Bane, Ubu to the table.

Adam answered with the Garth he had Optitroned for on turn 1. He put Garth behind Terra and waited for the attacks to come. Bane swung into Terra, and a flurry of cards flew across the table. Bane was powered up twice, and Terra was powered up once after receiving some help from the Tower. Jason Todd attacked Garth next, getting some help from Savage Beatdown. Adam played a Finishing Move in response, hitting Tim’s Bane with it. Tim seemed to like Bane on the table, however, and sent Alfred running away to get a copy of Fizzle for him. “I'll pass priority now,” Tim said. Jason stunned Garth, sending Adam’s endurance down to 20. Tim was still at 34. For turn 6, Adam had a copy of Koriand’r, adding a little bulk to his side of the table. Tim answered by using Bat-Signal to get a 6-drop of his own—Dick Grayson ◊ Nightwing.

“Team attack Spoiler,” Adam announced. Everyone seemed a little confused by the declaration, and Adam needed to repeat it to make sure we understood. “You haven’t Garthed yet?” Tim asked.

When he realized that there were only five Teen Titans characters in Adam’s KO pile, he allowed the attack to happen. Spoiler stunned from the team attack of Koriand’r and Garth. Koriand’r then attacked and stunned Bane on the back of a Teen Titans Go! Garth played Finishing Move on Bane before going back to get his Teen Titans Go! from the discard pile. Koriand’r and Garth readied again and swung into Dick Grayson.

The turn ended with Adam in charge of things, despite being behind in endurance totals—the score was 21 to 11.

Tim had the initiative on turn 7, but he was without a suitable 7-drop to play. He placed Bane, Ubu back on the table and passed the turn to Adam. Adam played Roy Harper and a boosted Dove, giving him a five to two character advantage that appeared to be good enough to end the game.

“No cards in hand?” Tim asked as Adam attempted to get his formation ready.

Adam exhausted everyone but Garth to help Roy Harper take out Bane. “It’s your attacks now,” Adam announced.

Tim studied the table intently, knowing that the entire $10K Championship rested on the next few minutes. He eventually announced his first attack. “Dick Grayson at Hank,” he said.

Adam looked at the table and made the obvious play—the only one he could make. He exhausted Garth to reinforce Hank. He had fallen perfectly into the trap that Tim had put together. Tim played Flame Trap, causing three characters from Adam’s side to stun, including Hank Hall.

The attack was suddenly illegal, so Dick Grayson readied and was able to attack again.

“I’m going to take 5,” Adam announced when the Flame Trap resolved. He then did some math and extended his hand—Dick Grayson would be able to attack Garth and end the game.

Tim Batow is the Las Vegas $10K Champion!

Tim celebrates his victory in Vegas!